DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The amendment filed on January 23, 2026 has been received and considered. By this amendment, claims 1, 2, 11, and 12 are amended, claims 4 and 13 are cancelled, and claims 1-3, 5, 6, 8-12, 14-16, and 18-20 are now pending in the application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 14-16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (WO 2014/081213, previously cited) in view of Bigolin (US 2009/0088653, previously cited) and Kim et al. (KR-2014-0013649). Regarding claims 1 and 6, Park discloses a system comprising: a shopping cart 2 comprising: a handle 1; an electrode assembly 10/20 disposed in the handle and comprising a set of electrodes 11/12/21/22 to sense an electrical signal corresponding to heart activity of a user when in contact with skin of the user and output the electrical signal, wherein the set of electrodes are deposited directly onto an exterior surface of the handle (Figure 1 and “Specifically, the body fat and electrocardiogram measurement kit 100 includes a current lead-in-electrode 10, a voltage detection-electrode 20, and a holding unit 30.”, translation, paragraph [32]); a converter assembly operatively coupled to the electrode assembly, the converter assembly to convert, by a processing device 41, the electrical signal to a modulated signal, wherein the modulated signal carries the electrical signal (“Thus, the microcontroller 41 of the holding unit 30 transfers a control signal to the ECG measurement unit 72 or the body fat measurement unit 53 after receiving the power (3.3 V bps) and the control command (Digital Connect Control Sent Signal Connect) from the smart phone 40. In addition, the electrocardiogram information or body fat information measured by the electrocardiogram measurement unit 72 or the body fat measurement unit 53 is transmitted to the microcontroller 41 again, and then the final data is transferred to the smart phone 40.”, translation paragraph [40]); and a transmitter to transmit the modulated signal; and a computing device comprising a second processing device, the computing device to receive, from the transmitter, the modulated signal, wherein the second processing device determines whether the electrical signal indicates that the user is experiencing a heart condition (“Meanwhile, for the control as described above, an app for controlling body fat and electrocardiogram measurement kit according to the present embodiment should be installed in the smart phone 40. Thus, the user may check the information about the electrocardiogram and the body of the user in the health state of the user by executing the app.”, translation, paragraph [41]). However, Park fails to disclose that the set of electrodes is comprised of a conductive ink or a conductive metal attached to an exterior surface of the handle or the computing device is further configured to upload electrocardiogram (ECG) data of the user, based on detection of an irregularity of the ECG of the user, to a pharmacy or healthcare location associated with a business location at which the shopping cart is used along with a unique identifier associated with the shopping cart. Bigolin teaches a device to detect heartbeats of a patient that comprises a handlebar 1 including two handles 2a and 2b attached at opposite end portions, and including electrodes 3a-d (see Figures 1 and 2), wherein the electrodes are “made either of a conductive rubber or a conductive plastic material, co-molded on a metal base, preferably a stainless steel base” (see paragraph [0029]). It is respectfully submitted that the conductive rubber or plastic co-molded on the metal base is considered a “conductive ink deposited directly onto an exterior surface of the handle” as claimed because the conductive rubber or plastic would satisfy the broadest reasonable interpretation for a “conductive ink”, which is a fluid or viscous substance that is capable of conducting electricity. Further, the handle of Bigolin is considered the apparatus comprising the handlebar 1 with handles 2a and 2b arranged thereon and, as such, the electrodes formed on the surface of handles 2a and 2b are formed “directly onto an exterior surface of the handle”. As such, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the electrodes of Park to be comprised of a conductive metal attached to an exterior surface of the handle or to be a conductive ink, as taught by Bigolin, as it has been held to be within the general skill of a work in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice (MPEP 2144.07), and as it has been held that combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results requires only routine skill in the art. KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1742, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007).
Further, Kim teaches a system for monitoring physiological signals using the handlebars of a bicycle (“The biosignal sensor unit 100 may be formed at an upper side or a side of the bicycle handle, and as shown in FIG. 2, a finger end is easily provided to the biosignal sensor unit 100 when the user grips the handle of the bicycle.”, translation page 2, lines 23-25) that includes sensing an ECG of a user (“The biological signal of the user measured in one embodiment of the present invention includes at least one of skin temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure and electrocardiogram of the user”, translation page 2, lines 30-31), detecting an irregularity in the ECG (“Meanwhile, the storage unit 1100 may store reference values of skin temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure, and electrocardiogram for each user's fingerprint data, and the control unit 500 may store a range of reference values in which digital signals stored in the storage unit 1100 are stored in advance. When exceeding, the external terminal 800 may be controlled to output a warning message.”, translation page 4, last line, to page 5, line 3), and in response to detecting the irregularity, uploading the upload electrocardiogram (ECG) data of the user to a pharmacy or healthcare location associated with a business location at which the bicycle is used along with a unique identifier associated with the bicycle (“In addition, when the portable terminal of the external terminal 800 outputs a warning message, the controller 500 may include a hospital or a pharmacy existing at a current location detected by the sensor 900 through a wireless network supported by the portable terminal.”, translation page 5, lines 4-6). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Park in view of Bigolin to include the computing device is further configured to upload electrocardiogram (ECG) data of the user, based on detection of an irregularity of the ECG of the user, to a pharmacy or healthcare location associated with a business location at which the shopping cart is used along with a unique identifier associated with the shopping cart, as taught by Kim, in order for a user to get help as quickly as possible and, as it has been held that combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results requires only routine skill in the art. KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1742, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007).
Regarding claim 2, Park discloses that the computing device is further to: process the modulated signal to generate the ECG data; and display the ECG data (“Meanwhile, for the control as described above, an app for controlling body fat and electrocardiogram measurement kit according to the present embodiment should be installed in the smart phone 40. Thus, the user may check the information about the electrocardiogram and the body of the user in the health state of the user by executing the app.”, translation, paragraph [41]).
Regarding claim 3, Park discloses a local display coupled to the shopping cart, wherein the ECG data is displayed via the local display (“Meanwhile, for the control as described above, an app for controlling body fat and electrocardiogram measurement kit according to the present embodiment should be installed in the smart phone 40. Thus, the user may check the information about the electrocardiogram and the body of the user in the health state of the user by executing the app.”, translation, paragraph [41], where the display of the smart phone is considered the local display as claimed).
Regarding claim 5, Park discloses that a first electrode of the set of electrodes is disposed at a first position on the handle corresponding to a left hand grip position and a second electrode of the set of electrodes is disposed at a second position on the handle corresponding to a right hand grip position (“In addition, the first current lead-in electrode 11 and the first voltage detection-electrode 21 May be disposed adjacent to each other, and may be held at once by the left hand of the user. Similarly, the second current lead-in electrode 12 and the second voltage detection-electrode 22 May also be disposed adjacent to each other, and may be held at once by the user's right hand.”, translation paragraph [35]).
Regarding claim 8, Park discloses that the electrode assembly is to perform an electrocardiogram (ECG) in response to the user holding the handle of the shopping cart (“when the user holds the handle 1 with both hands, it is preferable that the first and second current lead-in electrodes 11 and 12 are gripped by both hands, respectively”, translation paragraph [33]).
Regarding claims 11 and 16, Park discloses an apparatus comprising: a housing 1 comprising: an electrode assembly 10/20 comprising a set of electrodes 11/12/21/22 to perform an electrocardiogram (ECG) by sensing an electrical signal corresponding to heart activity of a user when in contact with skin of the user and output the electrical signal, wherein the set of electrodes are deposited directly onto an exterior surface of the handle (Figure 1 and “Specifically, the body fat and electrocardiogram measurement kit 100 includes a current lead-in-electrode 10, a voltage detection-electrode 20, and a holding unit 30.”, translation, paragraph [32]); and a converter assembly operatively coupled to the electrode assembly, the converter assembly to convert the electrical signal to a modulated signal, wherein the modulated signal carries the electrical signal (“Thus, the microcontroller 41 of the holding unit 30 transfers a control signal to the ECG measurement unit 72 or the body fat measurement unit 53 after receiving the power (3.3 V bps) and the control command (Digital Connect Control Sent Signal Connect) from the smart phone 40. In addition, the electrocardiogram information or body fat information measured by the electrocardiogram measurement unit 72 or the body fat measurement unit 53 is transmitted to the microcontroller 41 again, and then the final data is transferred to the smart phone 40.”, translation paragraph [40]), wherein the housing is shaped as a shopping cart handle (see Figure 1). However, Park fails to disclose that the set of electrodes is comprised of a conductive ink or a conductive metal attached to an exterior surface of the handle or the computing device is configured to upload electrocardiogram (ECG) data of the user, based on detection of an irregularity of the ECG of the user, to a pharmacy or healthcare location associated with a business location at which the shopping cart is used along with a unique identifier associated with the shopping cart. Bigolin teaches a device to detect heartbeats of a patient that comprises a handlebar 1 including two handles 2a and 2b attached at opposite end portions, and including electrodes 3a-d (see Figures 1 and 2), wherein the electrodes are “made either of a conductive rubber or a conductive plastic material, co-molded on a metal base, preferably a stainless steel base” (see paragraph [0029]). It is respectfully submitted that the conductive rubber or plastic co-molded on the metal base is considered a “conductive ink deposited onto an exterior surface of the handle” as claimed because the conductive rubber or plastic would satisfy the broadest reasonable interpretation for a “conductive ink”, which is a fluid or viscous substance that is capable of conducting electricity. Further, the handle of Bigolin is considered the apparatus comprising the handlebar 1 with handles 2a and 2b arranged thereon and, as such, the electrodes formed on the surface of handles 2a and 2b are formed “directly onto an exterior surface of the handle”. As such, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the electrodes of Park to be comprised of a conductive metal attached to an exterior surface of the handle or to be a conductive ink, as taught by Bigolin, as it has been held to be within the general skill of a work in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice (MPEP 2144.07), and as it has been held that combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results requires only routine skill in the art. KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1742, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007).
Further, Kim teaches a system for monitoring physiological signals using the handlebars of a bicycle (“The biosignal sensor unit 100 may be formed at an upper side or a side of the bicycle handle, and as shown in FIG. 2, a finger end is easily provided to the biosignal sensor unit 100 when the user grips the handle of the bicycle.”, translation page 2, lines 23-25) that includes sensing an ECG of a user (“The biological signal of the user measured in one embodiment of the present invention includes at least one of skin temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure and electrocardiogram of the user”, translation page 2, lines 30-31), detecting an irregularity in the ECG (“Meanwhile, the storage unit 1100 may store reference values of skin temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure, and electrocardiogram for each user's fingerprint data, and the control unit 500 may store a range of reference values in which digital signals stored in the storage unit 1100 are stored in advance. When exceeding, the external terminal 800 may be controlled to output a warning message.”, translation page 4, last line, to page 5, line 3), and in response to detecting the irregularity, uploading the upload electrocardiogram (ECG) data of the user to a pharmacy or healthcare location associated with a business location at which the bicycle is used along with a unique identifier associated with the bicycle (“In addition, when the portable terminal of the external terminal 800 outputs a warning message, the controller 500 may include a hospital or a pharmacy existing at a current location detected by the sensor 900 through a wireless network supported by the portable terminal.”, translation page 5, lines 4-6). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Park in view of Bigolin to include the computing device is further configured to upload electrocardiogram (ECG) data of the user, based on detection of an irregularity of the ECG of the user, to a pharmacy or healthcare location associated with a business location at which the shopping cart is used along with a unique identifier associated with the shopping cart, as taught by Kim, in order for a user to get help as quickly as possible and, as it has been held that combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results requires only routine skill in the art. KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1742, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007).
Regarding claim 12, Park discloses that the apparatus further comprises: a transmitter to transmit the modulated signal to a computing device (“Meanwhile, for the control as described above, an app for controlling body fat and electrocardiogram measurement kit according to the present embodiment should be installed in the smart phone 40. Thus, the user may check the information about the electrocardiogram and the body of the user in the health state of the user by executing the app.”, translation, paragraph [41]).
Regarding claim 14, Park discloses a local display coupled to the housing, wherein the ECG data is displayed via the local display (“Meanwhile, for the control as described above, an app for controlling body fat and electrocardiogram measurement kit according to the present embodiment should be installed in the smart phone 40. Thus, the user may check the information about the electrocardiogram and the body of the user in the health state of the user by executing the app.”, translation, paragraph [41], where the display of the smart phone is considered the local display as claimed).
Regarding claim 15, Park discloses a first electrode of the set of electrodes is disposed at a first position on the handle corresponding to a left hand grip position and a second electrode of the set of electrodes is disposed at a second position on the handle corresponding to a right hand grip position (“In addition, the first current lead-in electrode 11 and the first voltage detection-electrode 21 May be disposed adjacent to each other, and may be held at once by the left hand of the user. Similarly, the second current lead-in electrode 12 and the second voltage detection-electrode 22 May also be disposed adjacent to each other, and may be held at once by the user's right hand.”, translation paragraph [35]).
Regarding claim 20, Park discloses that the set of electrodes performs a single lead ECG measurement (one of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize that the measurement performed by Park, wherein an ECG is measured using the left and right electrodes and not using more electrodes would be considered a single lead ECG measurement).
Claims 9, 10, 18, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (WO 2014/081213, previously cited) in view of Bigolin (US 2009/0088653, previously cited) and Kim et al. (KR-2014-0013649), and further in view of Chen et al. (CN 111134638A, previously cited). Park in view of Bigolin discloses the invention substantially as claimed, but fails to disclose that the electrode assembly further comprises: one or more photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensors to detect a PPG signal corresponding to additional health-related parameters of the user and produce an electrical PPG signal representing the detected PPG signal, wherein the converter assembly modulates the electrical PPG signal to generate a modulated PPG signal and transmits the modulated PPG signal to the computing device, wherein the additional health-related parameters include a blood flow of the user, a heart rate of the user, a blood oxygen saturation of the user, and a change in blood volume in the skin of the user. Chen teaches a smart health monitoring support, including a support frame 100 including electrodes 210/220/230 (see Figure 2), and including a photoelectric electrode 240 configured to collect a PPG signal corresponding to additional health-related parameters of the user and produce an electrical PPG signal representing the detected PPG signal (“the signal acquisition component 200 further includes a photoelectric electrode 240 disposed in the groove 151 of the second armrest 150 and electrically connected to the control panel 270. The photoelectric electrode 240 is configured to collect a PPG signal. Optionally, the photoelectric electrode 240 is also disposed in the recess 141 of the first armrest 140.”, translation page 5, lines 21-24), wherein the converter assembly modulates the electrical PPG signal to generate a modulated PPG signal and transmits the modulated PPG signal to the computing device, wherein the additional health-related parameters include a blood flow of the user, a heart rate of the user, a blood oxygen saturation of the user, and a change in blood volume in the skin of the user (“the intelligent health monitoring support 1000 provided in this application may further calculate four parameters of the pulse rate, the cardiac pulse difference, the blood oxygen and the blood pressure of the user through the reflective PPG photoelectric electrode”, translation page 6, lines 21-22). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Park in view of Bigolin to include one or more photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensors to detect a PPG signal corresponding to additional health-related parameters of the user and produce an electrical PPG signal representing the detected PPG signal, wherein the converter assembly modulates the electrical PPG signal to generate a modulated PPG signal and transmits the modulated PPG signal to the computing device, wherein the additional health-related parameters include a blood flow of the user, a heart rate of the user, a blood oxygen saturation of the user, and a change in blood volume in the skin of the user, as taught by Chen, in order to detect a larger variety of physiological measures and as it has been held that combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results requires only routine skill in the art. KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1742, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAMMIE K MARLEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1986. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 8 am until 4 pm.
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/TAMMIE K MARLEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3796
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